Weekend in Review {7/28-7/29}

It’s time to wrap up this fabulous weekend already. We ended up doing quite a bit so I will try and be brief in my words and let the pictures do most of the talking….

Saturday

Woke up early for RPM and Body Pump – I haven’t done Pump in months so it was great to get back to a class. My shoulders are definitely feeling it today though. Apparently, I haven’t been working those hard enough.

Got my hair done – feeling a tad more blonde to draw out the summer.

Ran some errands – someone please tell me why I can’t walk out of Target without spending at least $50?

Caught up on a few hours of work – I’ll be away all week so I wanted to get all of my free lance posts done so I don’t have to worry about them.

Date night with the hubby – my favorite part.

Toly and I usually part ways all day on Saturday and meet up in the evening for a date. Last night, we decided to hit the city and went downtown for dinner and drinks.

For dinner, we went to a favorite restaurant of mine, Mangia Qui. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been here but we had a gift certificate and needed a reason to use it.

Mangia Qui is known for having really unique Mediterranean/Italian fare mixed with a bit of Spanish flare. The food is always fantastic but so are the cocktails. I started with a Grapefruit Martini.

It was near perfect! Not only sweet and incredibly refreshing.

To start, Toly and I split the Caprese Salad that came with heirloom local tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, aged 25 year balsamic and fresh herbs.

This also came with fresh homemade focaccia bread and salty olives.

For our main entrees, we both got one of the specials.

For me, a tiger fish over black rice with fresh grapefruit and a pea puree topped with crispy cilantro.

Toly’s dish was a beer battered cod over a creamy primavera risotto.

I apologize for a poor quality in these pictures but I assure you, both dishes were fantastic. I’ve never had tiger fish before but I definitely hope it’s not the last. It was delicate, mild and so delicious.

We each ordered a cappuccino for dessert and sampled some delicious dark chocolate. A perfect way to end such a wonderful meal.

Once we were finished, we decided that we both weren’t quite ready to call it a night and went across the street for another drink. I enjoyed another martini as we sat roof top and talked well into the night.

This morning, I was up early for a Sunday and got some things done around the house before I worked on making breakfast.

Strawberry Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup kodiak cake mix

1 overripe mashed banana

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Combine cake mix with almond milk and water. Stir in the mashed banana until combine. Place mix on a hot griddle (about 1/4 cup at a time) and add the sliced strawberries on top of the batter. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until edges begin to harder and the top of the batter turns a slight golden brown. Flip and repeat cooking time on other side.

I served these with a drizzle of almond butter which was simple but perfect.

I spent the rest of the morning packing while Toly took over most of the cleaning.

For lunch, we decided to get out on such a beautiful day and headed back to the city.

For months, I have been telling him about the Pita Pit that recently opened downtown. You see, the boy has a deep love for pitas and this concept of making your own had him pretty excited.

We walked across the river and into the city to grab our pitas to go and parked ourselves by the river for an impromptu picnic.

He was so happy with his pita.

As was I. The hummus pita never fails me.

Once we finished lunch, we headed out to a nearby winery to attended the Sip n’ Splurge event at The Vineyard at Hershey.

This relatively new vineyard is tucked away in the outskirts of Hershey and proved to be quite a hidden gem. I had never been so I was excited to see the scenery and check out some new wines.

Sip n’ Splurge was great! Many local vendors came out to showcase their products while the winery offered tastings and local music talent.

After sampling a nice selection of wine, we grabbed ourselves a glass of their homemade sangria and parked ourselves on a blanket to enjoy.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Dinner tonight came by request….

On the drive home, I asked Toly what he wanted for dinner and out of no where, BBQ Shrimp Nachos was said.

How could I possibly turn that down?

I took that idea and ran with it.

First, I made a quinoa salad using pineapple, red pepper, black beans, avocado, cabbage and dressed it with some lime juice, agave, salt and pepper.

I served mine over a bed of spinach and Toly’s over a bed of tortilla chips.

The BBQ shrimp went on top along with some grilled zucchini and (unpictured) salsa.

So good!

Well, I’m all packed and leaving on yet another jet plane first thing tomorrow morning. NOLA, I’m coming for you and those incredible looking beignets.

I’ll be taking a little break from my regular posts this week but I have some great giveaways and guest posts lined up. I’ll try to check in from time to time though. Have a great week everyone!

Sigh… I miss downtown Harrisburg! I cannot wait to visit the states just for that reason. Love how peaceful it can be sitting by the water during the afternoon or early evening. Looks like y’all had such a great weekend together

So happy you had such a great weekend, love I love seeing you smile! Great dress, too! I love the date night! I have never had tiger fish before either!? I love all types of fish, so I really want to try this now! I also really enjoy black rice

sounds like a great weekend hun! and I am with you. I cannot go into Target without spending at least 50$. The target red card doesnt help either. its like an automatic 5% coupon which of course justifies all my purchases haha have fun in New Orleans!